The social media ads promised the young African women a free plane ticket, money and a faraway adventure in Europe. Just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test. But instead of ...

Rescuers observe before transporting a fragment of Russian cruise missile outside a residential building in Kyiv on August 1, 2025, partially destroyed following a Russian missile strike morning on ...

Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media accounts belonging to an industrial plant in Russia's Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow's war in ...

Patricia Kilinga one of the individuals in Africa linked to Alabuga Start. [Association of European Investigative journalists/Courtesy] Fresh revelations have emerged listing names and faces of ...

"I like Russia, its language and culture," 20-year-old Aminata told DW. She wants to leave her home country of Sierra Leone in a few weeks to persue an apprenticeship around 7,000 kilometers (4,300 ...

The Alabuga Start programme is actively expanding in Russia, aimed at relocating young women from Africa, India, and Latin America to pursue employment and career advancement. Over the past few years, ...

Deep within Russia, far from the fighting in Ukraine, a massive factory is producing the lethal drones that have become one of the Kremlin's most dreaded weapons. Teenagers, some as young as 16, are ...

Influencers are finding themselves in hot water after promoting the Alabuga Start Programme that reportedly left young women vulnerable to human trafficking networks. The Russian Embassy said it has ...

A Russian initiative marketed as a skills development programme for African youth is under growing scrutiny. Zimbabwean MP Martin Mureri has called for urgent parliamentary debate, describing the ...